Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jul 5;29(4):318-320.
doi: 10.1016/j.joco.2017.06.006. eCollection 2017 Dec.

Traumatic glaucoma due to paintball injuries: A case series

Kelly M Lee  1 , Christopher Seery  1 , Albert S Khouri  1
Affiliations

Traumatic glaucoma due to paintball injuries: A case series

Kelly M Lee et al. J Curr Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Purpose: To study the management and outcomes of patients with paintball injuries resulting in traumatic glaucoma.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed, identifying four patients with a confirmed diagnosis of traumatic glaucoma secondary to paintball sports.

Results: Four male patients with paintball gun injuries presented with a mean follow-up time of 51 months after the date of injury. The mean age was 23.5 ± 18.6 years. Three patients presented with blunt trauma, while one patient had a ruptured globe. Presenting visual acuity (VA) was hand motions in three of the patients and no light perception in the fourth patient. All patients were diagnosed with traumatic glaucoma and treated with glaucoma medications during their follow-up. Two patients received tube shunts to control intraocular pressures (IOPs). At the time of most recent follow-up, three patients had elevated IOPs and were not on any medications. VA at the last follow-up was 20/400 or worse.

Conclusions: Traumatic glaucoma can be managed with surgical and medical interventions, while VA usually does not return to baseline levels prior to the injury. Prognostic predictors can be used to guide treatment and identify patients who should be closely followed. Because the presentation and onset is widely variable, follow-up and screening is crucial even years after the injury.

Keywords: Glaucoma; Ocular trauma; Paintball; Secondary glaucoma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Fundoscopic view of patient with vitreous hemorrhage (case 1).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) image of patient's retina showing edema (case 1).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. May D.R., Kuhn F.P., Morris R.E. The epidemiology of serious eye injuries from the United States Eye Injury Registry. Graefe's Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2000;238(2):153–157. - PubMed
    1. American Society for Testing and Materials, Standard Practice for Paintball Field Operation . American Society for Testing and Materials; West Conshohocken, PA: 1997. 1997 Annual Book of ASTM Standards; pp. 1400–1401.
    1. Pahk P., Adelman R. Ocular trauma resulting from paintball injury. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2009;247(4):469–475. - PubMed
    1. Milder E., Davis K. Ocular trauma and glaucoma. Int Ophthalmol Clin. 2008;48(4):47–64. - PubMed
    1. Sponsel W.E., Gray W., Scribbick F.W. Blunt eye trauma: empirical histopathologic paintball impact thresholds in fresh mounted porcine eyes. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2011 Jul;52(8):5157–5166. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources